Page:An Essay on Translated Verse - Roscommon (1684).djvu/26

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Whoever Vainly on his strength depends,
Begins like Virgil, but like Mævius, Ends.
That wretch (in spight of his forgotten Rhymes)
Condemn'd to Live to all succeeding Times,
With pompous Nonsense and a bellowing sound,
Sung lofty Ilium, Tumbling to the Ground.
For (if my Muse can through past Ages see)
That Noisy, Nauseous, Gaping Fool was He;
Exploded, when with universal scorn,
A Mountain Labour'd and a Mouse was Born.

Learn, learn, Crotona's brawny Wrestler cryes
Audacious Mortals, and be Timely Wise!
'Tis I that call, remember Milo's End,
Wedg'd in that Timber which He strove to Rend.

Each Poet, with a different Talent writes,
One Praises, One Instructs, Another Bites.

Horace